Giving Customers the WOW factor: Wowcher With Vonage Contact Center

Since its launch, Wowcher has grown to become the UK’s second largest online vouchering website. Part of DMG Media (owners of the Daily Mail and Metro), it takes advantage of group or bulk buying to offer unbeatable deals to subscribers. The purchase process is online or by mobile apps, but some customers call Wowcher with queries.

Wowcher invested in Vonage Contact Center (VCC) after its Head of Operations, Julian Boardman, extensively researched technology solutions and felt that the integration offered by VCC would improve advisor management, the quality of business information, and ultimately deliver a better customer service experience.

According to Samantha Tomlinson, Wowcher's Head of Customer Service, “The Vonage Contact Center solution has revolutionized our customer service efficiency and helped us create a great place to work. As a cloud solution, Vonage Contact Center can scale as the business grows and users are able to log into the same system wherever they are, meaning our staff can work from any location, which is great for disaster recovery planning and enabling home working."

Benefits of Custom, Real-Time Reporting and Analytics

Real-time reporting and analytics from Vonage has enabled Wowcher to improve its business and contact center processes, IVR menus, and the performance of individual advisors. As a result, the call abandonment rate has fallen to less than 4%, and Wowcher is meeting its target of answering 90% of calls within 30 seconds. The average number of contacts per caller has fallen from 2.4 to 1.7 in the past six months.

In addition, Wowcher now benefits from custom reports that feature real-time data such as contact volumes for the single contact number, call abandonment and IVR usage, advisor performance (using AHT and first contact resolution), and customer experience (using NPS, repeat contact and customer satisfaction at agent level).

Benefits for Wowcher Advisors

Since implementing Vonage Contact Center, Wowcher noted that heightened advisor performance has resulted in improved customer experience. The vastly improved management reporting is supplemented by easy-to-access call recording and post-call IVR customer satisfaction surveys. This means managers develop the right coaching to support the team of 12 advisors to deliver better customer service (currently 75% and rising).   The company has also measured an improved service level, with reduced average handling time (now standing at less than 240 seconds, against a target of 300 seconds).

With added support from VCC's easy interface, Wowcher has noted that its advisor engagement numbes have risen.  Wowcher implemented a range of motivational tools for advisors, and employee satisfaction has leapt to 91%. Vonage Contact Center has played an important part in this due to the easy interface with Salesforce, features such as ‘whispers’ to announce call information, ‘popped’ customer details on the CRM and click-to-dial calling functionality, making the responsibilities of advisors easier.

IVR Puts the WOW in Resolving Calls

A key advantage of Vonage Contact Center is the ability to for Wowcher to easily change interactive voice response (IVR) menus. With its previous system, Wowcher had to pay the vendor £750 every time a change was needed. Now, with Vonage Contact Center, 25% of calls are fully resolved using IVR. Wowcher can make as many changes as necessary to get the optimal menu, segment customer groups, and create messages instantly about popular products. 

Costs Are Down and Flexibility Is Up

Using Vonage Contact Center significantly improved Wowcher’s operating costs by reducing call volumes. The system has also enabled Wowcher to offer a call back service for customers instead of using an outsource company to take over flow calls; this has saved the business a huge amount of money. The cloud platform means that Wowcher’s staff can access VCC from anywhere there is a phone and internet connection, which is great for disaster recovery planning. Home working is now an option as well as the ability to handle spikes in call volumes.

Expert Advice and Support From Vonage

According to Wowcher, the customer support made available by Vonage has been excellent. The system was operational within 10 days of the contract being signed. A consultant was appointed to support Wowcher, and provided expert advice, setting up the IVR, managing the call plans, and reporting in a way that was completely tailored to Wowcher’s needs.